I'll Drink To That
by Caramelchan
Summary: EC friendship. Calleigh doesn't function too well in the mornings before she has coffee!


_Okay, I had this idea last week and thought "ooh that would be very fluffy and sweet." And here it is. No point to this story other than to satisfy my insane shippyness!

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Calleigh had had a nearly sleepless night. She had reached a break in the case the day before and hadn't wanted to stop working, until she found a good moment to pause and go to sleep.

Unfortunately, that moment arrived at past one in the morning.

She had been the last day-shift CSI to leave and was the first in the department that morning. Even Horatio wasn't at work when Calleigh arrived.

She was eager to close the case so she could have a good night's sleep.

Her eyelids were heavy as she reached the locker room. She felt as if she was about to fall asleep on her feet.

In her locker, she kept a spare set of clothes, some make-up and a hairbrush. She picked up the hairbrush and started pulling at her hair. There had been no time to brush it before she had left her house and it was very matted.

It took almost ten minutes to tease all the tangles out of her hair. Once that was done, she fished in her make-up bag for a hair elastic. She planned to pull her hair into a plait, so that it was out of her way for the day.

Her hands occupied with trying to plait her hair, she sat down on the bench by the lockers. As she was tired, her hands didn't seem to work properly and plaiting was proving to be a lot harder than normal. After three failed attempts, she leaned against the back of the bench and let out a sigh.

Maybe it would be easier if I just left it down…

Calleigh's head tilted backwards so it was against the wall. She closed her eyes, just for a second, and shut out the dim light that was streaming through the windows.

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Eric arrived at work earlier than he normally would. It was about seven o'clock when he parked his car in the car park and walked into reception.

He headed straight for the locker room, to pick up his gun and badge from his locker. His mother wouldn't let them in the house and, because he had been visiting his family the previous evening, he had left them at work.

When he got to the locker room, he was greeted by a sight he never thought he would see.

Calleigh was asleep, leaning against the wall. Her hair was in a plait that was almost unravelled and there were dark shadows under her eyes.

Eric couldn't help but smile. Calleigh, the most awake and energetic member of the team, was sleeping, obviously exhausted.

Even as Eric watched, a little more hair escaped from the plait. There were now lots of thin blonde ropes of hair framing Calleigh's face.

He didn't want to startle her, so he tiptoed around her as quietly as he could, giving her a couple of extra minutes asleep, while he was getting himself ready, before he had to wake her.

When he couldn't delay it any longer, Eric knelt down beside her and gently took her shoulder in his hand.

"Calleigh?" he whispered. "Calleigh?"

When she showed little signs of stirring, Eric started talking a little louder.

"Calleigh!"

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Calleigh felt herself being brought back to consciousness by someone calling her name.

"Calleigh? Calleigh!"

Go away… I was enjoying that dream…

It had had something to do with Ryan slapping Horatio around the face with a wet fish.

As Calleigh slowly awoke, the details became more and more vague.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes.

She could see light streaming through the windows, and more importantly, a pair of dark brown eyes.

"Eric?" she asked groggily.

She propped herself up a little straighter and looked around.

"What time is it?"

"Just past seven," Eric told her. "Why were you sleeping in the locker room?"

"I didn't stay overnight in the locker room… I just came in early and accidentally fell asle-"

Her last word was broken up by her giving a huge yawn.

She reached for her hairbrush and again, tried to comb the knots out.

Again, once that task was done, she tried to plait it.

Eric watched her attempt to start the plait off once, twice and a third time.

"Why were you here so early?" he asked, trying to make conversation. For some reason, him waking her up had made them both slightly uneasy.

"Trying to finish off the case. Why are you here so early?"

"Me? This question comes from the girl who was here at about half five today!"

Calleigh grinned, obviously realising that she should drop it.

She stood up and abandoned her fourth attempt at her hair. She had decided that it _would_ be better to just leave it down.

She was half way out of the door when Eric turned to her.

"You look so much better with you hair up."

Calleigh stopped in her tracks.

She felt her cheeks change colour and started to feel very embarrassed.

"What?" she asked, trying not to blush more than she already was.

"You do," Eric said sincerely. "You should plait it."

"I would," she explained, "but my fingers don't seem to work today. I'm too tired and I really need some coffee."

She made to leave, but Eric called her back again.

"I'll plait it for you."

He had already picked up the brush off the bench and was grinning cheekily.

Calleigh giggled slightly.

"Since when have you been able to plait?"

"Hey, I grew up with three sisters!"

Calleigh grinned and sat down on the bench with her back to Eric, giving in and letting him do her hair.

She was surprised at how gentle Eric was while he brushed. Every time he hit a tangle, he would gently tease out the knot with his fingers, rather than wrenching the brush through it like she did.

"You should do this more often Eric," Calleigh muttered softly.

"Really?" Eric laughed as he separated her hair into three sections.

"Umm hum."

Calleigh couldn't help it, but she felt herself closing her eyes again.

When she opened them, she was lying back on the bench, her head on Eric's lap.

"Good morning," he said with a grin.

She sat up quickly and stood up.

"Sorry," she said as she leaned against the lockers, her fingertips pressing her temples.

Eric chuckled. "It's alright. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Calleigh opening her eyes and smiling. "Stood up too fast. Gives me a headache."

"Ahh. What you need, is coffee!"

"I'll drink to that!"

Eric laughed and pushed her gently towards the door, his hand in the small of her back.

They arrived in the staffroom and Calleigh found two cups of coffee steaming on the counter.

"Ooh! You made me coffee!" Calleigh squealed. "Which one's mine?"

"This one," Eric handed her the first cup.

"Did you put sugar in?" Calleigh asked.

"You know, normally I'd say that caffeine and sugar are not a good mix, but today, I made an exception."

Calleigh took a big sip of the hot liquid before heading out of the staffroom.

"Thanks Eric!" she called. "I owe you one!"


End file.
